Number 2350: Crusade of the Time Retarder

Rodney Kent and his boy companion, Mark Swift, get in their Time Retarder to travel to the days of King Arthur. But, ooops! The controls are “clogged,” which I interpret as stuck. Their time travel ends in the midst of the Crusades, and like many a comic book time traveler of fiction, they meet famous people. Their clogged controls have taken them to a battle between Saladin and King Richard the Lion-Hearted.

Kent uses his pistol, and just as quickly loses it during an act of treachery. You see, he has both interested the Lady Edith, and invoked the wrath of another swain, Sir Simrak. “Sir Kent” as they call Rodney, is a man of charm. When Lady Edith proclaims her interest in him by saying, “Never saw I a man like thee!” he responds with, “You’re not so bad yourself, Lady Edith!” I’ll bet Sir Kent would do well at a singles bar with that line. (Sarcasm, of course.) Sir Simrak pays back her lack of interest in him by going to the enemy with a nefarious plot in mind.

The feature is named after Mark, the youngster, and only lasted for the seven issues of Slam-Bang Comics, from Fawcett. I believe the title probably did not last because it had no costumed super heroes. Mark is a brave, resourceful boy, but I ask why his adult companion has put him in such mortal danger. Perhaps retarding time has affected Kent’s supposedly more mature judgment.

Writer and artist unknown by the Grand Comics Database; from Slam-Bang Comics #2 (1940):

Posted in: Pappy Comics